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LAUSD strike begins, closing schools for more than a half-million students

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

Despite last-minute negotiations that went into the evening Monday, the Los Angeles Unified School District was unable to come to agreement with the union representing thousands of its employees to avert a work stoppage.On Tuesday morning, the LAUSD strike began, shutting down hundreds of schools and creating hardships for hundreds of thousands of parents.Demonstrators could be seen picketing under the rain as early as 5:30 a.m. in Van Nuys, video showed.The strike had been in the works for several weeks, and union reps identified Tuesday as the first day of what is tentatively planned to be a three-day stoppage.The strike includes the support of as many as 60,000 employees of the school district who are members of both the Local 99 of Service Employees International Union and United Teachers Los Angeles.The unions represent both educators and school district employees, including bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and teaching aids. LAUSD superintendent: Strike talks stall...

Couple ambushed by armed robber in Koreatown: Video

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

Surveillance video captured the moments a couple out on a date in Koreatown last week were robbed by a man with a semi-automatic handgun, and police believe the suspect may have committed at least one other armed robbery in the area. The incident happened around 10 p.m. on Mar. 15 outside Jaragua, a Salvadoran restaurant in the 4400 block of Beverly Boulevard.  Video shows the couple complying and dropping to the ground, while the armed suspect takes their money, debit cards, cellphones and a designer handbag.  “Obviously they were scared, traumatized, can’t walk in the neighborhood,” the owner of Jaragua told KTLA.  The restaurant owner did not want to appear on camera out of concern for his safety.  “I tried to get the word out to the employees because that's why I'm here. I'm going to walk them out when they get into their car. And this morning, they're kind of scared to walk by themselves, even in the parking lot,” he said.   Larchmont Village residents, busines...

LAUSD Strike: Resources for students, parents available

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

Union employees in the Los Angeles Unified School District started a three-day strike over wages Tuesday, forcing the closure of hundreds of schools and impacting hundreds of thousands of families.The school district and Los Angeles County have announced multiple resources to help parents.LAUSD ResourcesStudent Supervision: Free student supervision will be provided at select elementary, middle and high schools from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the three-day strike period. A complete list of the schools offering can be found here.Meal Pickup: Families can also pick up meals for students at Grab & Go locations on Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The district will give out six meals per student to cover breakfast and lunch over the next three days.Other Resources: LAUSD parents can check the district website for real-time updates on the strike and learn about more available resources.Los Angeles CountyAfter-School Programs:  Mayor Karen Bass announced Tuesday that she authorize...

Looming Trump arrest puts GOP lawmakers in uncomfortable spot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

The expected arrest of Donald Trump is putting Republican senators who want to move on from the former president in a tough spot as he calls for mass protests if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg places him in custody. GOP lawmakers see the indictment of a former president by a local district attorney as crossing the line and setting a bad precedent, but they fear a repeat of the violence that broke out when Trump encouraged his supporters to protest Congress’s certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.  Adding to their discomfort is the nature of the allegations that Trump paid $130,000 in hush money to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, something his onetime fixer, Michael Cohen, testified about before Congress in 2019.  The top members of Senate Republican leadership have stayed silent on the prospect of Trump being arrested and on Trump’s calls for mass protests, which Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tried to discourage over the weekend.  The...

How many people will ride BART through San Jose? The answer could define South Bay transit, but nobody knows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

One of the country’s largest infrastructure projects, bringing BART trains zooming through downtown San Jose, is inching closer to reality. But the number of people who will actually ride the extension — and its future as a linchpin for regional travel — is increasingly murky.A newly released ridership forecast estimates a 40% nosedive in passengers from local transit planners’ previous projections for BART’s South Bay extension. Instead of 54,600 riders boarding trains daily on their way to buzzing office towers and San Jose State University in 2040, a new federally-mandated forecast estimates 32,900 boardings.It’s a gut punch for the long-awaited BART extension, which could set up a showdown over funding South Bay bus and BART services if the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which is building the project, is not able to find a new taxpayer subsidy in the coming years to keep BART trains running. And this latest ridership forecast may...

Skelton: Newsom shouldn’t shy away from State of the State speech

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

Gov. Gavin Newsom insists his presidential ambitions are “subzero,” and I believe him. As president, he probably couldn’t avoid giving a State of the Union speech before Congress. And he’d hate that.OK, I don’t really know Newsom’s innermost thoughts about running for president. I only know what he has consistently said publicly: He’s not interested. But does that apply just to 2024 or also beyond?The 55-year-old Democrat must enjoy being mentioned as a top-tier potential candidate. Any politician would. And he’s clearly trying to be viewed as a national political leader promoting progressive causes.But it’s a good guess that Newsom looks at certain presidential duties — such as all the speechmaking, especially the annual State of the Union address — and winces. Reading speeches — reading practically anything — is difficult for the governor because of the dyslexia he has struggled with all his life.“I’m just mesmerized by the politicians that are literally handed a script or talking...

DA: Northern California suspect accused of killing man found in shopping cart arrested while allegedly trying to kill woman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

CHICO — A man was charged Monday with the killing of 61-year-old Daniel Niles after Niles’ body was found wrapped in plastic in a shopping cart on March 12.Timothy Wayne Wiechert, 48, of Chico is believed by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office to have killed Niles. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a 28-year-old woman on March 12.Wiechert District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the two cases appear to be linked as Wiechert, the woman and Niles were all homeless and staying in the area near FoodMaxx where the incidents occurred.According to a press release issued Monday by the DA’s Office, a resident on Chandese Lane in Chico came home to find an unknown pickup in her driveway and upon further inspection found a man strangling a woman on the ground in the driveway who was identified as Wiechert. A neighbor attempted to get the man off of her by use of a baseball bat.Officers arrived at the scene and arrested Wiechert. The pickup in the driveway was allegedly...

John Wayne’s former 2,000-acre California ranch seeks $12 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

Western film star John Wayne’s former 2,000-acre ranch in Hemet seeks $12 million. (Composite by Sandra Barrera, Southern California News Group; Inset: Associated Press file photo; Landscape: stunningphotography.com)View from the veranda. (Photo by StunningPhotography.com)The stucco house. (Photo by StunningPhotography.com)A swing hangs from the branch of an oak tree on the Hemet ranch, once owned by Hollywood icon John Wayne. (Photo by StunningPhotography.com)Show Caption of ExpandA sprawling Riverside County ranch once owned by Western film star John Wayne is on the market for $12 million.Called “Rancho Pavoreal,” the rural 2,000-acre spread is in Hemet’s Sage neighborhood within a 20-minute drive from Temecula Valley wineries.The Hollywood legend known as The Duke and a partner owned the ranch from 1938 to 1948, when it was sold, according to a 1993 California Department of Forestry archeological report. Realtor.com reported in 2000 that Wayne owned it in the 1970s, adding...

Opinion: AI is about to transform childhood in a big way. Are we ready?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

With the introduction of GPT-4 and Claude, AI has taken another big step forward. GPT-4 is human-level or better at many hard tasks, a huge improvement over GPT-3.5, which was released only a few months ago. Yet amid the debate over these advances, there has been very little discussion of one of the most profound effects of AI large language models: how they will reshape childhood.In the future, every middle-class kid will grow up with a personalized AI assistant — so long as the parents are OK with that.Having an AI service for your child will be as normal as having a pet, except the AI service will never bite. It will be carried around in something like a tablet, though with a design that is oriented toward the AI.Recent developments suggest that AI models can be both commoditized and customized more easily and cheaply than expected. So parents will be able to choose what kind of companion they want their kids to have — in contrast to the free-for-all of the internet. The availabl...

Opinion: Feds’ Tesla recall doesn’t go far enough, California must act

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:52 GMT

California leaders needs to do what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration so far failed to achieve: Keep Californians safe from Tesla’s flawed Full Self-Driving beta software.A nationwide recall of 362,758 Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving, or FSD, software didn’t go far enough. Worse, NHTSA has been handling Tesla with kid gloves.Specifically, the recall indicated that the software may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane; entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop; or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution. The vehicle may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits. And the FSD software does not adequately account for the driver’s adjustment of the vehicle’s speed to exceed posted speed limits.Still, numerous issues remain with the recall:• Teslas with FSD softwar...